Was that little snark about "Remember Me"'s name perhaps a little jab at another member of the Escapist staff? Wassamatter, Yahtzee? Couldn't share the coffee mug with them in the break room or something?

I was hoping for a Strange Days reference with the whole "reliving the good memories" bit so maybe someone would go out and watch the movie, but I definitely feel the Total Recall one was more appropriate. In any case after the less than stellar reviews I heard about this back when it came out it's really starting to sound like a Steam Sale for me based on the futuristic cyberpunk setting and combat.

One of the very rare cases where Yahtzee reviews a game that I'm on the fence about buying (usually it's either one I know I'm gonna get or already know I have no interest in) so this was a pleasant surprise for me. I'm glad to hear it was actually not all that bad, but I'm still not going to shell out sixty bucks for it.

Thinking about it this week, I feel I've figured out one of the big driving problems with Remember Me. I forget the episode, but Extra Credits made a point that, in game development, while you can definitely create the story first and the gameplay second, the safer move is to do the opposite and build a story around the gameplay. In the second option, even if the story makes no sense or is drivel, the gameplay probably has enough redeeming qualities to look past the story and enjoy multiple playthroughs, while the first option means players are more likely to slog through uninspired or forced gameplay all for the sake of a story.

How does this apply here? Seeing as how the original concept for Remember Me when it was originally titled Adrift had to do with a flooded, Water World styled...world, it makes me think the team was doing exactly what EC warned about--trying to come up with an interesting story first and forcing gameplay around the story. While the memory manipulation mechanic seems to follow suit with the story, the combat and exploration seem off. Or rather, it seems like those were aspects that were included not because they necessarily fit with what the game was trying to do thematically, but rather because it seemed like an easy way to bridge the story together. Based on the story I've seen and read so far, it would make sense to me to have changed Remember Me from an action game to a full puzzle, possibly stealth espionage game. Or, if they wanted to stick with combat so much, remove the memory mechanic and just make it cyber-punk Bourne with a female protagonist. That way the focus on pure combat and exploration for gameplay would've hopefully forced the developers to tighten or actually expand on the combat rather then let it fall short the way it did.

I think Remember Me will serve as an interesting example of what not to do in game design, that is to focus on the game element first and to place your focus on elements one at a time rather then spreading it out.

I'm disappointed that Yatzee didn't (and maybe won't unless there's going to be a release drought, which is actually very likely this year) review The Last of Us. I know he loves to tear critically acclaimed games new a-holes more than keep reviewing games no critic really likes.But for those of you who want a review of The Last of Us, the first "3rd-Person Strangler/Ladderer"...

Keep in mind that dunkey here isn't serious like this unless he's being a critic.

But yeah, it's a shame that the ideas didn't work out as well as hoped. Still, I intend to pick it when it becomes a bit cheaper, since at that price the ideas alone might carry it.

WaitWHAT:Was that little snark about "Remember Me"'s name perhaps a little jab at another member of the Escapist staff? Wassamatter, Yahtzee? Couldn't share the coffee mug with them in the break room or something?

To be fair, it was probably aimed at the entire gaming press. From what I remember, they were all at it.

Xman490:I'm disappointed that Yatzee didn't (and maybe won't unless there's going to be a release drought, which is actually very likely this year) review The Last of Us. I know he loves to tear critically acclaimed games new a-holes more than keep reviewing games no critic really likes.

I suppose this is as good a time as any to tell you that Yahtzee does his videos in the week leading up to the actual release of ZP. As in, right now he's probably doing an E3 video (if the text stinger is any indication), which will release next week, and then the week after he'll be doing The Last of Us, which only released last Friday (which is a pretty odd world-wide release date, since it's usually on a Tuesday).

OT: Hilarious. Kinda the impression I got from the game, myself. I would've definitely preferred that they had built the entire game around the memory-rewriting mechanics, instead of trying to shove in platforming, brawling, and some puzzles too.

I dunno. I feel like if there was ever a year where we don't need him to tell us what to think about E3 two whole weeks after it happened, it's this year. Back in the day, people actually used to get excited about E3, and Yahtzee was the lone dissenting voice. But nowadays everyone's like "Oh, yawn, an expensive event where companies try to get us to still care what they're doing." Even when two of them have a new console to unveil, we can't be bothered to really care. Besides, he already devoted a video to taking the piss out of those.

WaitWHAT:Was that little snark about "Remember Me"'s name perhaps a little jab at another member of the Escapist staff? Wassamatter, Yahtzee? Couldn't share the coffee mug with them in the break room or something?

Everybody and their mother made the same joke, so I doubt we can point at any one guy. Besides, the break room is in North Carolina. If I live Downunder, I'd be pissed, too!

DVS BSTrD:Maybe the twist is she only wiped her memory because she's actually a...

From what I have heard, the combo creator makes it ridiculously easy due to some of the available moves. Considering the memory altering part doesn't sound very frequent either, the game seems like it'd get pretty repetitive and easy to beat, which isn't that appealing. I don't mind games not being too much of a challenge, but when there also isn't much variety it doesn't seem like it'll have much re-playability.

On a side note, why do I suspect the use of the word rape in this video won't get a huge negative reaction?

Strain42:One of the very rare cases where Yahtzee reviews a game that I'm on the fence about buying (usually it's either one I know I'm gonna get or already know I have no interest in) so this was a pleasant surprise for me. I'm glad to hear it was actually not all that bad, but I'm still not going to shell out sixty bucks for it.

The same for me really. Normally it's either a game I have, or one that I have no interest in. In this case I am also still not particularly swayed into getting it, although perhaps in a few months time when the price drops considerably.

DarkhoIlow:The game had some very interesting concepts and yet it was reviewed rather poorly/average by everyone. Guess I'm just a sucker for new fresh things then.

Guess they don't like new IP's and have to be critical about everything.

New and fresh things are great, but generally speaking they are also unpolished. A lot of companies do recycle things, but they have normally nailed the actual mechanics. People can mock things such as COD for the lack of innovation, but nobody can deny that they have the technical side nailed.

I suspect if they made a sequel and had the time to improve and expand then it'd be much more positively received.

As someone who bought this both because I like Cyberpunk and wanted to support the idea of female main characters....I gotta say it's complete ass.

You are literary in a Hall like in final Fantasy 13 the whole game. Wanna go back? Nope, doors appeared behind you and closed and you can't go back. Any other direction? Dead end, tough shit.

The dialogue is fucking terrible.

If you like character development it pretty doesn't exist. Sensen is evil because they just are and like Yahtzee said all the villains are paper thin and over the top for no fucking reason.

The voice acting for Nilin is barely ok and her accent is more distracting than anything considering no one else seems to have one at all. I take it she's the only European in France, since everyone else sounds American.

The fucking Pop ups...dear god. Right the middle of a fight "HEY YOU JUST GOT A SKILL POINT AND AM NOT GONNA LEAVE THE SCREEN UNTIL YOU GO AND USE IT" or "YOU JUST UNLOCKED A NEW COMBO! GO SEE IT NOW! NOOOOOOOW! FUCK THE FIGHT, GO SEE IT!"

It is a shame. This looked like an amazing game, but they messed up the combat, and the Uncharted style platforming was painful. At least they tried. We need more games like this... except you know... BETTER...

Glad to see Yahtzee didn't go out of his way to dump on the title, like virtually every other self-professed critic has. Most of them seem to have misunderstood the combat system entirely too, so it's been unfairly chewed out in that regard.I'm not entirely sure I agree about the visual comparison to Mirror's Edge, though. Apart from a handful sequences it evokes a more dirty urban aesthetic than Mirror's Edge did.

At the end of the day, I thought Remember Me was a perfectly decent and often inspired, title in spite of its clumsy writing, and it's my game of the year so far alongside Papers Please.

Strain42:One of the very rare cases where Yahtzee reviews a game that I'm on the fence about buying (usually it's either one I know I'm gonna get or already know I have no interest in) so this was a pleasant surprise for me. I'm glad to hear it was actually not all that bad, but I'm still not going to shell out sixty bucks for it.

It suffers not so much from being "bad" but from the very clear perception that it could have been *so* much more than it is. It could have been brilliant, but it just...wasn't. It was certainly passable, but it didn't do anything exceptionally well (and didn't draw enough attention to the only remotely unique mechanics in the game -- the memory remixing [itself vaguely reminiscent of Ghost Trick's gameplay]).